Newcastle Smart City Strategy

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Council has developed its first smart city strategy. The Newcastle Smart City Strategy 2017 - 2021 (pdf) is a collaborative strategic planning document that will guide Council and a wide range of stakeholders and partners towards a smart and innovative future.

We have worked with all three levels of government, the community, educational and research providers and business and industry sectors in the development of the Newcastle Smart City Strategy to ensure that it is a shared vision.

Our aim has been to develop a roadmap for creating a smarter and more innovative Newcastle and Hunter Region and to maximise opportunities as they are presented in sectors including technology, advanced manufacturing, the digital economy and the creative industries.

The strategy will leverage the smart city movement to improve liveability, sustainability and economic diversity, develop local innovation, build international profile and attract talent and inward investment to our city. It will help ensure our future city has effective and integrated public transport, nurtures a creative and vibrant community and features best-practice energy and water efficiency.

Objectives

The Newcastle Smart City Strategy encompasses a range of objectives which are fundamental to its success:

Identify collective vision and principles to guide Newcastle as a smart and innovative city

Identify strategic themes and actions for enabling Newcastle as a smart and innovative city

Review, collate and integrate existing work from a variety of sources that is relevant to Newcastle and the Hunter Region as a smart innovative city

Engage with key partners, stakeholders and the general community

Identify relationships with existing and upcoming revitalisation and renewal projects.

Project timelines

The Newcastle Smart City Strategy has been developed in stages:

Stage 1 - Involved extensive consultation with key stakeholders, international research and a comprehensive literature reviewStage 2 - Draft Smart City Strategy was approved to go on public exhibition by Council, 23 May 2017Stage 3 - Draft strategy was on public exhibition from 29 May to Monday 10 July 2017. An extensive community consultation program resulted in more than 70 submissions received, and overwhelmingly positive feedback. The feedback used to refine the strategy's vision, objectives and actionsStage 4 - Smart City Strategy adopted by Council, 22 August 2017Stage 5 - Smart City Strategy implementation commences.